The invention relates to a swivel shower comprising a base body, a swivel body including a shower outlet and held on the base body for swivel movement about a swivel axis between a first swivel body end position, constituting a rest position, and a second swivel body end position constituting an operating position, a shower fluid inlet for supplying a shower fluid, and a swivel drive for driven swivelling of the swivel body, wherein the swivel drive includes a slide piston capable of being pressurized by a fluid pressure of the supplied shower fluid, which piston is arranged for translational movement between a first piston end position, corresponding with the first swivel body end position, and a second piston end position, corresponding with the second swivel body end position.
Swivel showers of this type are useable, for example, as wall- or ceiling-mounted sanitary swivel showers, such as ceiling-mounted over-head showers which can be swivelled, and as wall-mounted side showers which can be swivelled, in shower rooms.
Said swivel showers have a swivel body which is held on a base body for swivel movement and has a shower outlet, wherein the swivel body can be swivelled between two end positions, of which one acts as a rest position and the other as an operating position. In the rest position, the swivel shower is inactive, i.e. shower fluid does not emerge from the shower outlet. In the operating position, the swivel body is in its active shower position, in which the shower fluid which is supplied via a shower fluid inlet leaves the shower outlet as a corresponding shower jet.
For driven swivelling of the swivel body, use is made of a swivel drive which includes a slide piston capable of being pressurized by a fluid pressure of the shower fluid, which piston is arranged for translational movement between a first piston end position and a second piston end position, corresponding with the two swivel body end positions. The shower fluid inlet can be located, for example, on the base body or on the swivel body.
A swivel shower of the type mentioned at the beginning is disclosed in patent EP 1 947 251 B1. The swivel shower there is designed as a sanitary shower spray device for wall and/or ceiling mounting, with a flat outer surface. The flat outer side of the swivel shower here forms the visible face of the shower, i.e. that face which is visible to or faces the user in the mounted state of the swivel shower. The swivel body is formed by a shower carrier which carries one or more shower units. In the active operating position, the shower units protrude over the outer side of the shower. Tubular sections of a shower fluid supply serve as swivel axes of the shower carrier, and the slide piston of the swivel drive, said slide piston being capable of being pressurized by the fluid pressure of the supplied shower fluid, is arranged with a translation direction perpendicular to the swivel axes. In an embodiment which is shown, said slide piston presses with a pressure pin at a lateral distance from the swivel axes against an inner side of the shower carrier and swivels the latter by approx. 15° from a rest position, in which its shower outlet side runs parallel to the flat outer side of the swivel shower, into an oblique operating position in comparison thereto. Alternatively, the use of a step-up with deflection is proposed in order to be able to swivel the shower carrier even by 180°, when required, and therefore, in the rest position, a smooth side faces outwards and the visible face of the swivel shower accordingly acts in a closed manner.
It is an object of the invention to provide a swivel shower of the type mentioned at the outset with functionalities or properties which are improved in relation to the abovementioned prior art.
The invention achieves this and other objects by providing a novel and inventive swivel shower having the features mentioned at the outset and one or more additional features.
According to a first aspect of the invention, the slide piston of the swivel drive for the swivel body is arranged with a translation directional component in parallel to the swivel axis. This means that the translation direction of the slide piston is parallel to the swivel axis or at any rate has a component, which is different from zero, parallel to the swivel axis, i.e. the translation direction of the slide piston is not perpendicular to the swivel axis. This arrangement of the slide piston can form functional advantages for the swivel drive and can promote a compact constructional form of the swivel shower.
According to a further aspect of the invention, the swivel drive includes a transmission element in the form of a slotted guide mechanism between the slide piston and the swivel body in order to transmit the translational movement of the slide piston into a swivel movement of the swivel body. A transmission element of this type can afford functional advantages and permits a favourable conversion of the linear translational movement of the slide piston into the rotational movement carried out by the swivel body during swivelling.
According to a further aspect of the invention, the shower outlet in the rest position of the swivel body is swivelled away from a visible face of the swivel shower, and a swivel angle stroke from the first to the second swivel body end position is at most 90°. As already explained above, the visible face here means that side of the swivel shower which is visible to the user in the mounted state of the swivel shower or faces the user during use as intended. In the case of a wall- or ceiling-mounted sanitary shower, the visible face is typically a shower front side which faces the user located in front of or under the swivel shower. This measure can afford functional and design advantages. In this inactive position of the swivel body, the shower outlet can thus be swivelled away invisibly to the user, i.e. by being swivelled into the base body. Nevertheless, a swivel angle stroke of at most 90° is sufficient in order to swivel the swivel body into its active-shower operating position in which the swivel shower outputs the desired shower jet via its shower outlet, for which purpose the shower outlet is typically located visibly to the user on the visible face of the swivel shower. Depending on requirements and the use situation, the swivel angle stroke of the swivel body is also only at most 50°, for example approx. 45° or less. As is clear to a person skilled in the art, the above aspects of the invention are not necessarily functionally related and can therefore be realized in each case individually or jointly or in any desired combination in corresponding embodiments.
In a development of the invention, the slotted guide mechanism comprises a first guiding part including a sliding track and a second guiding part having a sliding cam cooperating with the sliding track. Of said two guiding parts, the one guiding part is arranged unmoved on the base body, while the other guiding part is arranged for translational movement together with the translational movement of the slide piston and coupled for rotary movement to the swivel body. Said slotted guide mechanism permits a functionally reliable and stable transmission of the translational movement of the slide piston into the rotary or swivelling movement of the swivel body, and the swivel shower can be constructed relatively compactly when required.
In a refinement of the invention, that guiding part which is arranged for translational movement together with the translational movement of the slide piston and coupled for rotary movement to the swivel body includes a follower sleeve cooperating with an end face of the slide piston. Said follower sleeve can be moved in a translatory manner by the slide piston and can simultaneously be rotated via the slotted guide mechanism, as a result of which the swivel body coupled for rotary movement to the latter is swivelled.
In a development of the invention, the slide piston is guided for translational movement on a swivel shaft sleeve defining the swivel axis. The swivel shaft sleeve can thereby provide both a swivel shaft for swivelling the swivel body and a guide for the slide piston which is moved in a translatory manner. Additionally or alternatively, the slide piston is telescopically shiftable onto or into the swivel shaft sleeve.
In a development of the invention, the swivel shower has an elastic piston return element preloading the slide piston to its first piston end position. The elastic piston return element can be, for example, a compression or tension spring which is supported on the base body on the one hand and on the slide piston on the other hand or is connected to same at one spring end in each case. In corresponding embodiments, the tension/compression spring can be shifted coaxially onto the swivel shaft sleeve and thereby held or guided thereon. By preloading the slide piston to its first piston end position, the swivel body is accordingly preloaded into its rest position. If no shower fluid is supplied or the shower fluid supply is shut off or blocked, the swivel body, in corresponding embodiments of the invention, takes up said rest position which is stabilized by the action of the elastic piston return element. When the shower fluid supply is opened, the fluid pressure of the supplied shower fluid then presses the slide piston counter to the action of the elastic piston return element in the direction of its second piston end position, as a result of which the swivel body is swivelled into its active operating position.
In a development of the invention, the swivel body is a cuboid-shaped shower cartridge including the shower outlet on one of its cuboid sides and a cover surface on an adjacent cuboid side, which cover surface is parallel to the visible face of the swivel shower in the first swivel body end position. Such a swivel body can be produced with a relatively small outlay and may be of advantage in terms of design and functionality. In the active rest position of the swivel body, its cover surface thereof can be seen on the visible face of the swivel shower, while the shower outlet can be concealed so as not to be visible to the user. If desired, the cover surface here can form, for example, a substantially flush end with an adjacent surface of the swivel shower or of the base body thereof, and/or the cover surface can have a surface composition which is substantially uniform with an adjacent surface of the swivel shower, and therefore the swivel body joins harmoniously into an inconspicuous overall image of the swivel shower on the visible face thereof in said rest position. Only if the cuboid-shaped shower cartridge forming the swivel body is swivelled into its active operating position does its cuboid side containing the shower outlet appear on the visible face of the swivel shower, and the desired shower jet is then output via the shower outlet.
In a development of the invention, the swivel shower has a locking element by means of which the swivel body is lockable in the second swivel body end position. As a result, the swivel body can be held in its second swivel body end position, for example for maintenance or cleaning work, irrespective of whether fluid pressure is present because of supplied shower fluid, or the shower fluid supply is blocked. This is useful particularly for embodiments of the swivel shower in which the swivel body in the rest position is swivelled away from the visible face of the swivel shower or is not freely accessible from the outside for the user.
In a development of the invention, the shower outlet includes a jet outlet plate having at least one jet outlet nozzle, the nozzle longitudinal axis of which encloses an acute angle, i.e. an angle of greater than 0° and less than 90°, with the jet outlet plate. The nozzle longitudinal axis here defines, as customary, a main jet direction of a shower jet emerging from the shower outlet nozzle or of a shower jet formed by a plurality of such jet outlet nozzles. This means that, in this case, the shower jet emerges at an acute angle of its main jet direction to the jet outlet plate. As a result, for example, the shower jet can be output with its main jet direction perpendicular to a visible face of the swivel shower if or although the jet outlet plate is not oriented parallel, but rather obliquely with respect to the visible face of the swivel shower in the active operating position of the swivel body.
In a development of the invention, the swivel shower includes a shut-off valve arranged in a fluid flow path between the shower fluid inlet and the shower outlet, said valve blocking and unblocking the fluid flow path as a function of a swivel position of the swivel body. Said shut-off valve thus completely blocks the fluid flow path in the first swivel body end position and completely unblocks same in the second swivel body end position. This has the advantage that no shower fluid can emerge from the shower outlet when the swivel body is in the inactive rest position. On the other hand, the shut-off valve completely unblocks the shower fluid for the active shower operation when the swivel body is in the operating position. The blocking and unblocking functionality of the shut-off valve is advantageously controlled by the swivel position of the swivel body, which automatically ensures that the shut-off valve provides the desired valve function in the respective swivel body end position.
In a refinement of the invention, the shut-off valve has a switching hysteresis, according to which the valve starts unblocking the fluid flow path during swivelling of the swivel body from the first swivel body end position in the direction towards the second swivel body end position with a delay as compared to it completely blocking the fluid flow path during swivelling of the swivel body from the second swivel body end position in the direction towards the first swivel body end position. In other words, during swivelling of the swivel body from the rest position, shower fluid begins to emerge from the shower outlet only from a predetermined unblocking swivel angle since the shower fluid supply remains blocked by the shut-off valve up to then. If the swivel body is swivelled back from its operating position into its rest position after the active shower operation, the shut-off valve completely blocks the shower fluid supply to the shower outlet only at a shut-off swivelling angle which lies closer to the first swivel body end position than the unblocking swivel angle. Shower fluid can therefore still emerge from the shower outlet for a somewhat longer period before the shut-off valve completely blocks the shower fluid supply to the shower outlet and the swivel body reaches its rest position. This can be advantageous for corresponding use situations.